Posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2020 at 9:47 am
On Friday, July 10th, at 10:03 p.m., 54-year-old Antonio Leon Ellison, of Birmingham, was struck by a pickup truck while walking in the 400 block of 3rd Avenue West. Ellison succumbed to his injuries minutes after the collision occurred. The driver of the pickup truck alerted the authorities and remained at the scene to help with Birmingham Police Department’s ongoing investigation.
What factors come into play when a pedestrian is involved?
WBRC Fox6’s LawCall Host, Tiffany Bittner, interviews Attorney Ken Riley.
TIFFANY BITTNER: Ken, my heart breaks for the friends and family of Antonio Ellison. I can’t imagine what they must be going through. I believe this may be the first incident we’ve covered that involves a pedestrian, which makes me wonder if you see a lot of these types of cases?
KEN RILEY: Tiffany, as with any accident containing injuries and especially deaths, I’d love to say they are rare occurrences, but most of the time, that’s simply not the case. However, we do see far less cases involving pedestrians than we do involving multiple vehicles. That being said, we do currently have a few cases in this category, one of which happened only a couple of months ago.
TIFFANY BITTNER: I agree with you, Ken. While I’m glad the numbers are lower than others, I wish we could eliminate them altogether. Since these types of cases are less common than others, what are some different factors one needs to look for when building a case like this?
KEN RILEY: Primarily, you must consider all the details of the case. Who is listed as the at-fault party on the accident report? Why are they listed rather than the other party? Were there any factors involved that could point to the injured party having contributed to the accident? In a case involving a pedestrian, those factors could look like anything from jaywalking or wearing dark clothing at night to walking down the wrong side of the street. These are all things to be considered when building a case like this, to determine whether or not both parties helped contribute to the accident.
TIFFANY BITTNER: How would one determine if the pedestrian somehow contributed to the accident, and how would that affect the case?
KEN RILEY: Well, the clothing the pedestrian was wearing at the time of the incident will be apparent, but as for jaywalking or being negligent of pedestrian traffic laws, if there is security footage in the area, that could be pulled and reviewed to see how exactly the accident occurred. One could also investigate to see if there were any witnesses, and they could be asked to make a statement. Regarding the affect, it really depends. We focus on the conduct of the driver of the offending vehicle and ask – Why did this happen? Why didn’t the driver see the pedestrian? What was the driver doing inside of the vehicle instead of paying attention? How can this harm be prevented in the future?
More episodes of Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP on LawCall.
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Disclaimer: The intent of this post is to provide general information to our readers and to help improve the safety and quality of life for those who live in our state. At Farris, Riley & Pitt Personal Injury Law Firm, we intend to honor those who are victimized in accidents across Alabama. We aim to provide up to date information to the public surrounding these incidents in hopes of helping others avoid becoming victims themselves. If anyone is involved in an accident, we would like to make sure they know how to respond, should a tragedy occur. Information in this post, should not be considered legal or medical advice. You should seek further assistance from a legal or medical professional if you or a loved one is a victim in an accident. Any photos depicted in these posts are not representative of the actual accident scene.
